Imagine growing up in Latvia. You study hard, receive top marks in high school and at the prestigious University of Latvia. You earn a master’s in biology and dedicate your life to preserving the environment, eventually rising to the position of Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development. Then, one day, you are voted in as the first Green Party president in the history of the European Union.
Why do all this? To one day meet Kristaps Porzingis, of course.
President Raimonds Vējonis got to live out the dream of every Latvian boy and girl this week when he got to take a photo with the Unicorn.
I must admit, my man Raimonds looks pretty damn tall. How tall, exactly? To answer that question, I consulted someone with professional experience standing next to very tall people. “Inside Stuff” host and NBA TV reporter Kristen Ledlow:
Taller than me. 6'6 (ish)?! Ha! https://t.co/HeSxbYjJna
— Kristen Ledlow (@KristenLedlow) September 22, 2016
When you really think about it, standing next to Porzingis is the only true way of determining the stature of a leader. It works in the present, and it works in the past. Here we have a relief of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (668 BC – c. 627 BC):
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Sure, Ashurbanipal looks pretty fierce choke-slamming that lion, but next to Kristaps he looks like a toddler wrestling a kitten. Don’t hate me, Ashurbanipal; I’m just showing the world the truth.